298 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



midway between the peaceful Samoans and the bloodthirsty 

 Fiji cannibals of the 'older days,' before the much-abused 

 missionary reached the latter group. 



The Tongans have a variety of traditions, many of which are 

 very interesting. I will give two of them, the first of which 

 will serve perhaps to form the basis of a Christmas moral story 

 for young folk, with some such title as ' The Greedy Giant, or 

 Gluttony's Reward.' 



Once upon a time, there was a Tongan adventurer named 

 Cau Moola, who desired to ' rectify some frontiers ' belonging 

 to the Fijians. If he had succeeded in his benevolent pur- 

 pose, for which he would have ' accepted ' canoes and other 

 things in payment, he would then have returned to his native 

 group and shown practically what advance he had made in 

 the art of fighting by his residence in distant Fiji. Contrary 

 winds, however, prevented his accomplishment of the ' shortest 

 passage on record,' and he and his fellow-politicians (shall I 

 say financiers ?) had to remain for a space on an island called 

 Lotooma. Received right hospitably by the natives (' where 

 ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise ' especially if fighting- 

 men are scarce), the Tongans were shown some very big bones, 

 and this is how they say those bones came there. 



Many years ago, before men of common stature lived at 

 Tonga, two enormous giants resided there, who happening on 

 some occasion to offend their god, he punished them by 

 causing a scarcity on all the Tonga islands, which obliged the 

 giants to go and seek food elsewhere. As they were vastly 

 above the ordinary size of the sons of men nowadays, they 

 were able with the greatest imaginable ease to stride from one 

 island to another, provided the distance was not more than 

 about a couple of miles; at all events, their stature enabled 

 them to wade through the sea without danger, the water in 



